a ex-convict recently released from prison for killing a man with a shovel while being
stabbed. While hitchhiking to his fathers cotton farm in Oklahoma, Tom meets Casy, his
childhood preacher who has since left the church. When they arrive at the farm, they see that
it is abandoned and the land has been worked over by a tractor. A man named Muley, a local
man who knew Tom when he was younger, approaches and explains that most of the families in
the area have been forced out by the banks and that Toms family has gone to live with
his Uncle John.
Tom and Casy walk to Uncle Johns farm and
Tom is reunited with his father, mother, grandparents, and siblings. Over breakfast, Toms father
explains that they were planning on moving to California. The family packs in the truck, which includes
Grandpa, Grandma, Casy, Uncle John, Connie, Rose of Sharon, Al, Noah, Ruthie, Winfield,
and Tom. They begin their journey on the road to California on Highway 66.
As the family continues on their journey,
they stop on the side of the road to rest and meet the Wilsons, a husband and wife
whose car has stopped working. Grandpa Joad feels sick and dies of a stroke. As they exit Oklahoma and enter Texas, the
car breaks down and needs a new engine part. The rest of the family goes ahead in the truck
and rests at a stop, while Tom and his brother, Al, look for a service station.
They find
a car parts dealer and the one-eyed man sells them the part they need for cheap. They return to the vehicle and fix it, eventually
catching up to the family at the stop. However, at the stop, a man returning from California
tells them that workers arriving in California are being taken advantage of because of their
desperation. Still, the Joad and Wilson families continue on their journey.
The family drives through Arizona and finally
arrives in California, but they still must cross the desert. At a local encampment, Toms
brother, Noah, decides to stay and the Wilsons urge the Joads to continue without them
because Mrs. Wilson is near death. With Grandma Joad nearly dead, the family packs up and
makes the final push into California.
However, Grandma Joad never sees the orchards and city
lights of California, as she dies in the back of the truck. After burying Grandma Joad, the family settles
in an encampment called Hooverville. The collection of tents is full of poor workers and their
families, all of which are struggling to eat. Tom meets a man named Floyd who tells him
that there is no work in the area and describes how the workers are being taken advantage
of because of so few jobs.
After Al helps Floyd fix his car, Floyd tells
Tom that there is work two hundred miles to the north. However, Tom is apprehensive about
moving north since the work isnt guaranteed. A man from the south seeking workers appears
in the camp with a deputy sheriff. Floyd demands to see his license since the man seems shady.
When the man refuses, the deputy tries to arrest Floyd.
Floyd runs away and Tom trips
the deputy. As the deputy fires his gun at Floyd, Casy knocks out the deputy and turns
himself in when more deputies arrive. Tom decides that Hooverville is not safe and
so they pack up their belongings. After Toms brother-in-law, Connie, runs away and Uncle
John gets drunk, the family heads north.
They are forced to turn around by a pack of angry
people, but Tom waits them out as he watches as they burn Hooverville. Angry, Tom turns the truck toward a government
camp called Weedpatch in the south that is rumored to have nice amenities and no sheriffs. The family arrives at Weedpatch, a little
self-governing community with their own showers and laws. A recent vacancy allows the Joads
to move in.
They are welcomed to the camp and the rules are explained to them. Tom finds a job digging a ditch, while the
rest of the family becomes accustomed to the camp. The camp prepares for their weekly Saturday
evening dance, but there is a rumor that a fight will be started, which will allow the
sheriffs to shut down the camp. As visitors from outside the camp enter for the dance,
a group of men, including Tom, try to screen them to see who might cause trouble.
The band plays as the people dance and just
as a fight is about to escalate, the men stop it. Eventually, the Joads cant find work and
must move out of Weedpatch. The Joads find work at Hooper Ranch and are
escorted past a line of picketers. After picking peaches for a day, they barely have enough
money for dinner.
That night Tom investigates the picket line
and reunites with Casy, who is leading the picket. Casy tells Tom that hes learned
about the strength of a union and how they keep lowering the wages. However, a group
of men attack them, leaving Casy dead. In response, Tom kills one of the men, but gets
hit in the face.
Tom returns home and cant return to work because of the injuries to
his face. The wages for work are lowered just as Casy
predicted and as suspicions grow about the killing at the picket line, the Joads decide
to leave the camp. On the road, they see a job sign for cotton pickers. After finding residence in a boxcar, the family
picks cotton and collects a fair amount of money to buy food.
However, the cotton is
running low and soon everyone will be looking for work. Ruthie gets into a fight with another girl
and accidentally says that Tom recently killed a man. Ma gets worried and gives Tom money
to run away. Tom accepts the money and leaves, saying that hes going to try to continue
the work that Casy started - trying to setup unions and organize people.
It begins to rain, indicating that field work
has stopped. Al meets a girl named Agnes and they want to get married. Ma doesnt want
Al to leave because hes the only one who can drive the truck. Rose of Sharon, Toms sister, begins feeling
sick and starts to give birth during a rainstorm.
As the nearby river begins to flood, Pa and
some of the men begin digging a bank to stop the rising water. However, the water continues
to rise and eventually floods their truck. Rose of Sharon gives birth, but the baby is
born dead. Uncle John is told to bury it, but he lets it float down stream.
The rainwater rises and begins to flood their
boxcar. After trying to protect themselves from the rising waters, the Joads decide to
leave and Al stays behind with Agnes. The family walks in the countryside and sees
a barn in the distance. In the barn, they meet a dying father and his son.
In the end, Rose of Sharon breastfeeds the
man so that he can recover from his illness..
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